Royston III 4 Letchworth IV 3 ROYSTON fought hard and had to dig deep to win this game 3-2 with a partially changed team. Letchworth started strongly and put Royston under pressure for much of the first half, scoring a goal with the home defence in disa

Royston III 4 Letchworth IV 3

ROYSTON fought hard and had to dig deep to win this game 3-2 with a partially changed team.

Letchworth started strongly and put Royston under pressure for much of the first half, scoring a goal with the home defence in disarray. A good performance from keeper Gary Pinner ensured no further breaches of the defence in the first half.

Royston's first goal came from Sam Polger running down the right wing to the by line and then along the line to pass the ball to Mike Parsons who swept it in for a well worked effort.

Yet again in this match Royston displayed how their best hockey comes from quick balls, fast moving, and players passing rather than running with the ball.

In the second half Royston started to take increasing control of the game, the main threat from Letchworth being in the midfield who did give Royston some worries at times.

However hard work by the defence of Nick Hooton, Tim Yow, Pete Belcher, Matt Brunt and skipper Dan Taylor kept them at bay for the most part.

With the attack increasingly putting pressure on Letchworth, Royston's second goal came with a move combining Colin Bateman on the left and Parsons who finished well for his second goal.

Royston's third goal could almost be an example of what the club coach has been practising on Tuesday evenings, with a ball hit in from the right on the 25 metre line, to Dan Taylor who quickly passed to Bateman losing his marker in the D and sweeping in for a superb goal.

Letchworth fought back and caught the Royston defence overstretched to score their second.

With only minutes to go Royston nearly saw the game go away from them when a rolling ball was chased by Matt Brunt and caught and swept away with inches to spare.